Spoilers if you haven’t seen the episode. Watch the video below.
The episode opens with Henry, Shawn and Gus sitting in an interrogation room. I couldn’t tell right away where they were but I thought it was some Mexican jail or something, I didn’t realize it was the Santa Barbara PD.
Henry: “Not a word.”
A few seconds pass
Shawn very deliberately: “Fergulous”
Henry: “I said not a word.”
Shawn: “Oh I see, last week when we were playing Scrabble that was not a word, this week when it is convenient for you it is a word.”
With this opening dialogue I knew it was going to be a great episode of Psych. When Shawn gets to wordplay and be at his funny best is when the episodes are at their best. I’ve also noticed that he is more of a show off/wise guy when his father is around, so having them together in the interrogation room was excellent.
We eventually get the reveal that the boys are in the Santa Barba PD interrogation room. In comes the Chief, Det. Lassiter and Juliette. Again this is going to be a good episode because finally this season the storylines with the police and Shawn and Gus are going to merge. In the first 3 minutes we have a great set up for one of the best episodes this season. This episode was also the introduction to Shawn’s Uncle Jack, the fun uncle and Henry’s brother. Uncle Jack was so much the fun uncle that on career day Shawn had him impersonate his Dad. And Uncle Jack is an adventurer. I loved that his name tag said “Shawn’s Dad” on it. Very funny.
Random kid behind Shawn in class: “I ‘m glad my dad didn’t come. I don’t even know what a manager of debt consolidation does, except drink.”
Uncle Jack tells the class a story about a pirate off the coast of Santa Barbara. He finishes his story with a flourish and spills gold coins all over he table. This was after Henry arrives and it is revealed that Shawn is pulling a trick on his new teacher by switching his Dad with Uncle Jack. Henry says that the coins are not even real, undeterred Uncle Jack states, but they are real Chocolate! He certainly knows the way to impress kids.
This little story sets up the adventure to find the treasure. I liked the going back in time the past couple of days to explain the story. This gave the guys some time to have some great banter. This was a banter-fest episode. And there was some great stuff as the guys return home to see that there was someone in the house.
Shawn (to Henry): “You keep a stun gun in the birdhouse? What’s under the garden gnome an M80?”
Shawn (to Gus): “A hose dude? What were you gonna do, give him a high colonic?”
That someone in the house was Uncle Jack. Uncle Jack is back and he on the search for the treasure that he told Shawn’s class about 20 years earlier. Uncle Jack knows how to impress the boys, he brings them masks that he excavated from Machu Pichu. They are really from Puerto Rico. Henry knows that Jack is a scam artist but the boys only remember the fun Uncle Jack and nothing Henry will say will deter them from being impressed by their hero.
Watching Steven Weber as Uncle Jack made me realize a few things, the inflection of his voice, the tone and the meter are very similar to Shawn’s Uncle Jack was Shawn’s hero and Shawn even grew to imitate him a bit. Just watch the part where Uncle Jack talks about the legend of Bouchard and you will see these similarities.
Another thing that I should have caught the first time around was that this episode was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar of the comedy Troop Broken Lizard.
Uncle Jack and the boys head off to start the adventure. They impersonate a Spanish Professor and his assistants. Uncle Jack introduces Shawn as “Juan Priestly” and this is where the boys figure out that while they thought they were impersonating priests, which may or may not be against the law. They tried to get info at the mission before Jack’s ex-partner showed up. Shawn figures out where the map starts and gets the clue to go to the Lighthouse for the 1st clue. Jack’s partners show up and start shooting at the guys.
As the guys continue to tell the story Lassiter and Juliette bring the chief back in so that Shawn can tell her something. Shawn does this whole joke about the Rat Pack which also includes great banter between he and Gus. Then Juliette gets tough with them. So tough that Lassiter looks at the chief as if to show that he is impressed. This settles Shawn down enough to continue the story. Shawn’s response as an aside to Gus “Oh My God, that was so hot.”
“Psychic things are happening to me! Oh!” Shawn, Gus and Uncle Jack are tied up in a small cabin by Uncle Jack’s partners.
Gus: “An Ugg boot, I can’t wear an Ugg Boot, (cold stare from the Chief) It’ll be dope with my one Puma.”
Henry’s Answering Machine: “This is Henry Spencer, please leave your name and number but speak slowly because people talk too fast on these things.”
Eventually the guys are picked up by Henry, this was after they gave Mark, Jack’s Partner, the map and sent him on a wild goose chase. The guys go back to Henry’s place which is trashed. But this was done by Henry. Shawn discovers a key that Uncle Jack hid in Henry’s coffee table and then sets up a ruse for Uncle Jack. Looks like the boys have come to their senses in their hero worship. The guys convince Henry to come with them on the rest of the treasure hunt because they need his truck.
A quick walk around to find a bell tower reveals where the treasure must be buried, at this point Mark and his cronies are now caught up to Shawn and Gus (after the wild goose chase that Shawn led them on.) The guys head out to the woods and are running through them with Mark’s men on their tail. Along the way Gus loses one of his “$200” Pumas.
Shawn: “This may not be the right time, but Dude we may get to ride in a helicopter.”
Shawn: “It is like the movie Idle Hands except with no nudity which means I must be completely unwatchable right now.”
Juliette: “I spent a semester in Paris, got salmonella poisoning and lost 20lbs. Best Date Ever.”
Nearing the end we find that the people in the helicopter are from the Spanish government sent to reclaim their gold. They brought Shawn, Gus and Henry to the police station. Shawn reveals that he knows where the treasure is. It is in the painted cave of the Chumash Indians. I think Shawn was a little peeved from the Bad Cop of Juliette that he gave her a little bump on the way out the door…. or was he. Shawn and Gus leave with the Spanish government guys to dig for the treasure.
Shawn: “The Secret of Nihm and the Secret of My Success.. Same Secret”
Shawn reveals that he knows the government guys are not actually Spanish government agents. He tosses a shovel at them and he and Gus take off. They run through the woods and are met by Uncle Jack. But is Jack there to rescue them? Nope, he wants to take the treasure and get away. The bad guys only want the treasure. Gus and Shawn give him the treasure. Jack takes off and says that in an hour they will meet at the Red Robin. The two groups of bad guys come out of the woods and start pointing guns at each other. They are about to take Shawn and Gus and ransom them when the Santa Barbara PD show up becuase that bump that Shawn gave Juliette gave him the time to give her a note.
So, the Wrap Up:
Gus: “Shawn you know I don’t curse very often so when I do I mean it. What the hell just happened?”
Shawn: “I thought you were not a fan of the wrap up.”
Shawn recognized that Andre’s (Spanish Government guy) did not have a Spanish accent, ti was Argentinian. This means that he was probably one of Jack’s partners. So he writes a guick note to Juliette that says Andres not real, follow us You Smell Nice. I love this little crush he has on her. We also learn in the wrap up about one of Shawn’s many jobs. (This hasn’t been explored much all season but on the website at USA Networks we have Shawn’s resume and video testimonies form people he’s worked for.) Anyway we also learn that Shawn wrote postcards and Henry kept them (As beer coasters).
At the very end Shawn is at Red Robin and Henry arrives. This was also a ruse for Henry so that Shawn could apologize int he way that Shawn apologizes. You see, Shawn knew that Uncle Jack was going to con them. He wanted to know why Henry didn’t tell them about his uncle long ago. But Henry didn’t want the boys to not like their favorite uncle. Shawn apologizes and says that Uncle Jack was probably not the best role model. Father and son share a nice moment together and then Shawn dumps the gold onto the table. We then see Uncle Jack with a bag of Rocks. Score one for Shawn and his relationship with Henry.
Of the episodes this season this one had it all, action, great banter, the police, Henry, a guest star, some great 80’s references (I was very very disappointed that there was no reference to the Goonies. There was one to Raiders of the Lost Ark though). This is a must see episode.
Shawn: “Tony, Toni, Tone and Wet, Wet, Wet… the symmetry alone”
